Don't send money this Christmas

As you may know all our mail is now scanned by Royal Mail so they know what is in the envelope. Unfortunately some unscrupulous postal workers in Edinburgh have been using this scanning process to open birthday cards which contain the odd £5/£10/£20 note. This has been confirmed by Royal Mail. Don't ever send money through the mail service, and don't send vouchers this way either. Christmas is fast approaching and many of us send Argos or Boots vouchers to family and friends. Vouchers are just as valuable to them as cash. If you get a proof of posting and you wait 15 days after you expected your letter to arrive, you can put in a claim if it has gone missing but the difficult part is proving how much you put in. Please, don't send money or vouchers through the post.

Thank you for that Valerie, I do send a small note to youngsters in the family - as I no longer know what to buy for them ! Now what ?
Can I do anything to prevent the note being seen - wrapped it in tin foil for example. Otherwise I am really stumped for ideas.
What about a cheque? would that show up?

Mind you, some of my small donations have gone missing in the past !

Likely once I have paid the heating bill, there wont be too many pennies left for gifts this year.

I sent 2 birthday cards about a month ago. 1 with money and 1 without and only the one without money arrived. There you go!!! but the problem is... I didnt get proof of posting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the warning Valerie....I'll certainly pass it on to people down here.

I wouldn't send cash in the post, but do sometimes send vouchers. :eek:

More often than not tho', I choose a present from the Amazon wishlists that all my family have now. :)

Thanks for the warning Valerie.

I never send cash in the mail but never thought about vouchers.

So sad that this happens.:(

We have had 2 cheques gone missing which were enclosed in birthday cards to family in the south of Scotland (both in the same area)

Have filled in the relevant forms for the Post Office to investigate but to date no explanation

My MIL swears by her remedy for this. Any birthday cards that she sends, whether it has money or not always comes in large envelopes that look business type. Disguising the mail stops post being targeted because it looks like a present or card.

Thanks for the warning, but i did not think that the scanner was that strong enough to pick up whats in the card.eg money.

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Originally Posted by justine

My MIL swears by her remedy for this. Any birthday cards that she sends, whether it has money or not always comes in large envelopes that look business type. Disguising the mail stops post being targeted because it looks like a present or card.

Thanks for the warning, but i did not think that the scanner was that strong enough to pick up whats in the card.eg money.

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I've been doing this for years ~ had too many birthday cards to kids in Aberdeen go astray. Since I started putting it inside a brown envelope and addressing it to an adult they've arrived safely. Addressing cards to kids (by just putting their name and not Mr/Mrs) is a dead giveaway that there could be money in it from a loving auntie/granny etc.

I regularly send book tokens and have in the past sent cash - won't do cash again but it's sad if you can't even send tokens/vouchers. What right have they to scan our mail? I didn't know they did this. What is it for - there can hardly be a bomb in a small envelope?

I have sent money through the postal system many times, but always using recorded delivery, only a fool would think of sending money unregistered, it's just common sense.

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Originally Posted by Valerie Campbell

As you may know all our mail is now scanned by Royal Mail so they know what is in the envelope. Unfortunately some unscrupulous postal workers in Edinburgh have been using this scanning process to open birthday cards which contain the odd £5/£10/£20 note. This has been confirmed by Royal Mail. Don't ever send money through the mail service, and don't send vouchers this way either. Christmas is fast approaching and many of us send Argos or Boots vouchers to family and friends. Vouchers are just as valuable to them as cash. If you get a proof of posting and you wait 15 days after you expected your letter to arrive, you can put in a claim if it has gone missing but the difficult part is proving how much you put in. Please, don't send money or vouchers through the post.

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I do believe you should be very careful stating things like this.

Royal Mail does not scan all our mail it would be quite impossible for them to do so to the Millions of mail posted every day.

The only reason Royal Mail advises not to post Cash is because their insurance does not cover for Cash sent through the mail.

The only mail scanned by the Royal Mail is a suspicious Packet or Parcel and even then it will only pick up certain material that could be used in the making of Letter Bombs.

It has also been pointed out to me that if Royal Mail attempted to scan all our mail it would be against the Data Protection Act and so against the Law.

my sister has sent cards containg gift cards throught the post a couple of times and they never arrived, 1st time she never thought of sending it recorded mail but the second time she did, and it didnt arrive again and when she claimed after the 2nd time and after they investigated they were nice enough to send her a book of stamps, wonder if they could spare it slight difference to a £10.00 gift card. I myself didnt have a problem with royal mail unto i sent my nephew a gift cvoucher through the post for his birthday in july last i heard he was still waiting on it, so guess i wont be bothering again.

There are many countries that don't allow money to be sent and many more that "recommend" you don't send money in the post.
I wouldn't risk it myself.

I know my sister now sends cheques as they arent any use to anyone except the person it is written out to.

I quite often send cash through the postal system, sometimes largish sums. One of £450 springs to mind. Send it special delivery, and count out the money in front of the post office teller. They will then note what you have sent, and their insurance will cover you for up to £500. I believe you can pay extra to insure a larger sum.

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Originally Posted by James McD

We have had 2 cheques gone missing which were enclosed in birthday cards to family in the south of Scotland (both in the same area)

Have filled in the relevant forms for the Post Office to investigate but to date no explanation

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Posted a parcel last Christmas only to have the postie steal it, it took until July to go to court but I was informed what was happening and got the cost of the item refunded. Was going to send vouchers this year, not trusting another parcel.